Toronto stocks closed higher on Thursday as technology issues led a broad-based rally, which was fed in part by strong profit forecasts. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 49.07 points at 6,772.18.

Investors were heartened by a strong sales report from SAP, Europe’s largest software maker.

The TSX information technology sector rose nearly 3% and telecom stocks gained 1.3%. The TSX gold index, with a 1.57% loss, was the only loser.

Tech stocks rebounded sharply from the previous session, when a warning from U.S. computer maker Gateway Inc. knocked those issues down 1.3%.

Shares of Nortel Networks closed up 19¢ at $3.33 on its market-leading volume of 38 million shares. Celestica climbed 75¢ to $27.05.

Research in Motion added 69¢ to $22.76, while Open Text climbed 42¢ to $39.79.

Gold stocks were the only group posting a loss during the session even. Barrick Gold gave up 53¢ at $23.94.

TVX Gold fell 96¢ to $23.44. The company declared force majeure after its Greek subsidiary was ordered to halt development by the Greek government, pending a court decision.

Bombardier rose 28¢ to $6.09 in strong trading on news of a new contract with Swiss Federal Railways.

Suncor rose a nickel to $24.05. The company said the Kyoto Protocol would not have a material impact on its growth.

CoolBrands International, which markets such frozen dessert products as Chipwich and Eskimo Pie , reported that its net earnings for the first quarter were $2,723,000, as compared with net earnings of $1,411,000 for the same quarter last year. Its shares fell 18¢ to $5.30.

On the Toronto market, advances beat declines 628 to 450 with 212 unchanged. Volume was 280.1 million shares worth $2.7 billion.

The TSX Venture Exchange added 8.47 points to 1,112.87.

In New York, markets were led higher by retailers and tech stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 180.87 points to 8776.18. The S&P 500 added 17.64 points at 927.58. The Nasdaq composite index gained 37.39 points to close at 1438.46.

The Canadian dollar jumped 0.42¢ to US64.46¢.